For the third year in a row Google joined Lebanon in celebrating its 69th anniversary of Independence Day on Thursday, with a doodle featuring the temple of Jupiter in Lebanon’s city of the sun Baalbeck.
The Lebanese Independence Day, on November 22, 1943, is a national day celebrated in remembrance of the liberation from the French Mandate which was exercised over Lebanese soil for over 23 years. As usual an official ceremony is held in Martyrs square in downtown Beirut.
The ceremony was attended by President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, diplomats and other dignitaries.
Hundreds of balloons in the colors of the Lebanese flag red, white and green were launched after military helicopters overflew marching soldiers.
One observer told Ya Libnan “you can call it our annual show and that is all it is, calling it independence is an overstatement ” and went on to say.
This is a country where Political division, dysfunction and paralysis characterize political life.
This is the country where corruption is the rule and where the first question a politician may ask you if you have a proposal to improve his area of authority is “what is in it for me ?” instead of asking how can his people benefit from such proposal.
This is the county where a foreign envoy such as the Syrian ambassador has the audacity to tell the president of the republic what to do, instead of asking how can we help.
This is the country where the only way to get a job is to emigrate be it to the Arabian Gulf countries, Europe or the Americas.
This is the country whose economy is totally dependent on Tourists and diaspora remittances
This is the country where its so called resistance fighters drive in downtown Beirut and Mt Lebanon in the most up-to-date SUVs with dark tinted windows intimidating the people instead of being inside the Israeli occupied territories to liberate Shebaa and Kfarsouba farms.
This is the country which is run by a cleric who hides inside bunkers and shows off every-so-often on TV via video link to tell the elected officials of the country what to do.
This is the country where there is no law, and no order and where the law breakers are the very people that are supposed to enforce the implementation of the law.
This is the country which hosts the UNIFIL peacekeeping troops to keep us safe from the Israelis whose violations of its sovereignty are a routine occurrence.
This is the country which was occupied by Syria for 30 years, whose departure in 2005 doesn’t mean this influence has disappeared.
This is the country whose “national unity cabinet” was overthrown and replace by a “Made in Syria cabinet”.
This is the country which (Iranian president) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad views as Iran’s border with Israel. He was referring to the south of Lebanon when he made the statement in 2010.
This is the country where a politician should be careful after arriving at Beirut airport because the next day he could be gone just like Pierre Gemayel, Gebran Tueni and Wissam al- Hassan . All were assassinated the second day after arriving (secretly) in Lebanon. Of course all suspects in the assassination will be protected by the resistance because they are “brothers and sister” the same way that the suspects in the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri have been protected.
This is the country where it is considered to be a miracle to return home alive after driving on its roads.
This is the country which was one of the most advanced in the region… back in the 60’s when business people traveled to Beirut to make a phone call..but now has one of the worst telecommunication systems in the region
Finally this is a country where electricity and water are a luxury and where the only blessing is you don’t need to carry a watch since the blackout time tells you the time.
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